In this enriching episode, Vika, a celebrated storyteller and adventurer, delves into the transformative power of storytelling, both personal and shared. She shares insights from her 28-month solo journey around the globe, emphasizing how storytelling can shift internal narratives and foster deep connections. Vika's approach to storytelling transcends the mere act of telling tales, highlighting its role in personal growth, cultural understanding, and creating change. Join us for a profound exploration of how stories shape our lives, with lessons on embracing vulnerability, cultivating empathy, and the art of listening to the stories that surround us.
Vika, hailing from the former Soviet Union and now a global citizen, has carved a unique path through her adventures and storytelling. Her journey from fleeing political asylum to becoming an advertising executive and finally embracing a nomadic lifestyle underscores her belief in the power of narratives. A Moth story slam winner and a contributor to Vice, Vika uses her experiences to teach and inspire, advocating for storytelling as a means of connection, healing, and transformation.
The Essence of Storytelling:
Vika discusses the intrinsic human need to create narratives, emphasizing storytelling's capacity to transform personal and collective experiences. She explores how stories have shaped her life, from her early days in the Soviet Union to her global travels, highlighting the role of storytelling in overcoming challenges and fostering empathy.
Curiosity Intelligence and Transformative Narratives:
Introducing the concept of 'curiosity intelligence,' Vika offers insights into changing limiting self-narratives through inquisitiveness and openness. She shares practical tips for adopting a more curious mindset, illustrating how this approach can lead to personal growth and a deeper understanding of oneself and others.
The Power of Authentic Connection:
Vika reflects on her experiences of connecting with people worldwide, underscoring the importance of authenticity in storytelling. She discusses the transformative effect of genuine interactions, both in personal encounters and on the speaker's stage, advocating for stories that resonate on a soulful level.
Shaping the Future Through Stories:
Looking forward, Vika shares her vision for utilizing storytelling as a tool for societal change. She emphasizes the need for stories that promote empathy, understanding, and action, calling on listeners to embrace their narratives as agents of change in their communities and beyond.
Learn more about Vika Viktoria:
Learn more about Josh Linkner:
ABOUT MIC DROP:
Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter its starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.
Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com
ABOUT THE HOST:
Josh Linkner — a New York Times bestselling author — is a rare blend of business, art, and science.
On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (moo-DEE-tah) Venture Partners - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He’s twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.
While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. Josh has been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world. His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation. Josh
is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way™ through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.
Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com
SPONSORED BY AMPLIFY PUBLISHING GROUP:
Partnering with CXOs, keynote speakers, change makers, and other visionary leaders, Amplify Publishing Group (APG) is a leader in the hybrid publishing space with more than twenty years of experience acquiring, producing, marketing, and distributing books.
Passionate about ideas and voices that need to be heard, they're known for launching books that start engaging and timely conversations. At each turn, they have been at the forefront of innovation and have spearheaded a critical disruption of the publishing industry.
Learn more at: amplifypublishinggroup.com
ABOUT IMPACTELEVEN:
From refining your keynote speaking skills to writing marketing copy, from connecting you with bureaus to boosting your fees, to developing high-quality websites, producing head-turning demo reels, Impact Eleven (formerly 3 Ring Circus) offers a comprehensive and powerful set of services to help speakers land more gigs at higher fees.
Learn more at: impacteleven.com
PRODUCED BY DETROIT PODCAST STUDIOS:
In Detroit, history was made when Barry Gordy opened Motown Records back in 1960. More than just discovering great talent, Gordy built a systematic approach to launching superstars. His rigorous processes, technology, and development methods were the secret sauce behind legendary acts such as The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today. With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits.
Here’s to making (podcast) history together.
Learn more at: DetroitPodcastStudios.com
Vika:
We can go three weeks without food, three days without water, but only 35 seconds without creating a narrative.
Josh:
Hey, friends. Josh Linkner here. Delighted to bring you season three of Mic Drop, the number one podcast for professional speakers and thought leaders. On the show, we connect with experts at the top of the field, unpacking their success to help each of us grow and thrive. From elevating your artistry to booking more gigs, Mic Drop is designed to give you the tools and insights you need to reach the next level. Together, we'll accelerate the path to growth, success, and most importantly, impact.
Speaker 3:
The best keynotes start movements and incite change. And when you couple an electrifying speech with a project that fuels audience engagement, the result is lightning in a bottle. What I'm talking about here is a book. That's where our friends at Amplify Publishing Group come in. With 20 plus years of experience and hound by some of the industry's most renowned veterans, including bestselling author and global superstar, Mel Robbins, the team at Amplify knows not only how to produce a fantastic book, but how to leverage that book and make it work for you, your brand and your business. And Amplify not only knows books, they know the world of keynote speaking and thought leadership. Having published CEOs and executives, they take positioning into consideration at every step of the way. Whether you have a one line concept or a comprehensive outline, amplify is ready to work with you. Visit amplifypublishing.com/micdrop to schedule an exploratory call and receive an exclusive editorial one pager tailored to your concept. That's amplifypublishing.com/micdrop.
Josh:
Vika, who hails from the Ukraine, is a global adventurer and weaver of stories, crafting narratives that resonate with the hearts and souls of her audiences. A winner of the crazy prestigious Moth story slam, her storytelling power is undeniable, a unique blend of humor, insight, and authenticity. As a contributing writer for Vice, Vika always brings a keen eye for the unusual and a deep empathy for human connection. Her writing shows us that great storytelling is more than just words on a page. It's a journey, a conversation, and an exploration of the many facets of life and work. Vika's mission is to shine a light on the extraordinary and the ordinary, to find the magic in the mundane. She believes in the power of stories to connect people, to break down barriers, and to heal. In today's episode, Vika shows us that storytelling is so much more than just telling stories and why traveling solo should be a bucket list item for everyone. Today we'll go deep into purpose and heart on this soulful episode with one of my favorite thought leaders and humans. Vika, welcome to Mic Drop.
Vika:
I am thrilled to be here. Sending a lot of warmth from Lisbon, Portugal.
Josh:
Well, this is such a cool episode because you're right now in Lisbon, you were born in the former Soviet Union and have done a lot of amazing things in a non-traditional way. A lot of interesting experiences that of course informed your work as a thought leader and a speaker. Could you, for those that don't know you as well as I do, give us a little bit of your backstory, obviously non-traditional background, and how did you get to this point in time?
Vika:
Sure. It's a great question. I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to have the freedoms I have. I was born in the former Soviet Union. We fled under political asylum and made it over to the US and so that immigrant mentality was a strong narrative that pushed me to be successful from a very young age. Grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, went to Georgia Tech, graduated into the worst economic recession of our time. I bought a one-way ticket, and that was really my first backpacking adventure around the world where I started to understand the power of story as a means of deep human connection. And then I ended up moving to New York City. I became an advertising executive. For seven years my business card read the Beyonce of Digital Media, and it was just as absurd as it sounds, it was Sex and the City on steroids.
It was so much fun. And yet in this space of making a lot of money and having a lot of career success, I felt really empty inside. And so I saved up for seven years. And after I closed the biggest deal of my career, multimillion dollar deal, I felt so empty inside that I decided there's got to be something else. I quit my job and I embarked on 28 months of solo backpacking the world for world tour number two. And this time, because I had money, I decided I would just follow my highest curiosity and I would train with master teachers, people that had brilliant minds and big hearts and were full of integrity. And so I learned from neuroscience, to masculinity, to mindfulness, to psychology, to movement. And I came back after my grandpa died to live in LA and I really started from zero.
I had gone through my life savings and I didn't know what I was going to do with my life, but I had won this little competition called The Moth. And someone found me on YouTube and asked me to speak at a conference. And I didn't even know that this world of speaking was a thing. I didn't know it was a career. And so I started to develop my speaking and opened up a practice that's a storytelling advisory. And today I'm very, very blessed to say that I serve leaders, I serve creatives, I serve companies like Boston Consulting Group on crafting stories that will transform their worlds.
Josh:
It's amazing, and there's so much to unpack there. I want to talk obviously a lot about storytelling, but back to your 28 months, I mean that takes not only a lot of curiosity, a lot of courage, it takes a lot of empathy. I mean pretty much all the skills needed to survive. But what are some of the core aha's or surprises that you discovered during that 28 month period?
Vika:
It's a great question. Some of the core things that I identified was how to be my own everything. When I was living in New York City, you're alone, but you're never alone. I never spent a night reading a book. There was such a culture of going out with clients, going out with friends, going out on dates, but never going out with yourself. And when I was backpacking for 28 months, I really asked myself, do you like who you are? If you're not the best salesperson, if you don't win The Moth, if you are just you and nobody knows who you are wandering through this world, can you be your own best friend? And so one of the practices that I put in place that I now teach to my students is positive disruptive experiences, something that adds value to your life that's disruptive from your habitual way of being and that you have to experience.
You can't read a book or listen to a podcast. And so one of the things that I really learned was when I stripped myself away from wearing makeup and high heels and pushup brass and really changed my relationship to money, to power, to sexuality, I liked who I was and that was a big reclamation.
Josh:
That's probably the best insight one could have is to sort of fall in love with yourself in this adventure. Amazing. What was the hardest part about that? Again, most people haven't done a 28 month solo back... I'm so curious. What was hard about that process? Was there a rejection along the way? Were you lonely? What did you struggle with?
Vika:
Yeah. Yeah, it's both sides of the same coin. On one hand, it's the most liberating and empowering you'll ever feel. And on the other, it's completely isolating. And it's almost like you've become an alien in your own culture because at a time when I'm trapezing around the world, all of my friends are getting married, having kids, and I am starting to feel like I have less and less in common with the community that I grew up in until the point where I can no longer compare my life to theirs. And so it's a feeling of such extreme loneliness that really forces you or me to come to terms with what are your values and how do you identify success now? Because if before success meant the biggest paychecks and I thought money was my highest value, well now I have freedom. I have freedom over my time. Nobody gets to tell me I have two weeks of vacation anymore. And so it was a complete disorientation and re-imagination of what mattered to me, and that was a brutal process. It's the breakdown to the breakthrough.
Josh:
The breakdown to the breakthrough. I was preparing for today and you had a great quote, I'll read it. "The solution to dread, disruption and disconnection to purpose lie in our stories, not in our capacity." And that's interesting 'cause I think often we think we're not good enough, we're not enough of whatever. And you really relate that solution forward though to stories. How does stories inform the transformation you described for yourself and how can the stories inform the transformation for other people as well?
Vika:
Yeah, the story is your lens on the experience. Life is just a series of neutral events, and because we are meaning making machines, we place a meaning on it. I think about it like the weather, it's raining outside, and for some people the story is, ugh, that rain ruined my day. And for other people, the story is I'm going to go dance in the rain. How cool. And so the power of storytelling is that it can actually transform your psychological state. I've worked with leaders who complain week over week about the same things, and I said, is it going to get easier? And I said, no. I was like, so the acceleration of change is only going to increase, right? They said, yeah. I'm like, you're only going to be asked to do more with less. Yes. Okay. If it's not about capacity, is it possible that we need to change the story of how you relate to the increased stress, the increased tension, the increased demands that are asked of you?
And that's when this aha moment comes up because all of a sudden where they have felt really powerless and defeated, they now have agency over their story about how they're relating to the thing that they cannot change. And so to me, storytelling, because it's hardwired into our psychology, is the fastest tool to bring about a transformative psychological state. We're wired for story. Lisa Cron talks about this in her book, Wired for Story. We can go three weeks without food, three days without water, but only 35 seconds without creating a narrative. For all of us, if we can become conscious of the stories we tell ourselves as soon as the moment of impact hits, then we're 90% of the way there to recovering from the event in a way that's actually generative to transformation instead of destructive to our evolution.
Josh:
You've become a well-regarded award-winning storyteller from stage telling stories to others. But I love where you're going with this, that it's really the stories that we tell ourselves that drives so much how we show up in the world, how we serve others, meaning and purpose, et cetera. What are some tips or ideas that you could share on how we can perhaps reshape some of our own internal dialogue and stories, craft a better narrative that's more productive and ultimately leads to more purpose and fulfillment?
Vika:
Yeah. I teach this thing called curiosity intelligence, and this came about a few years ago because I realized that without curiosity, we have judgment and with judgment we can't get anywhere. And so what I would say, when you're starting to feel that you've made a decision or you have a story that you've believed so strongly that it's become the truth, put on this lens of curiosity intelligence and ask yourself, what if this pain is actually part of my university of life? What if this pain is a professor? What if this change is part of my higher evolution? Because what I've learned is there's four guarantees in life, death, taxes, pain and change. Can't do anything about death or taxes. I hope you live a long life, I hope you pay your taxes, but I'll be damned if my work doesn't help you change your story to pain and change.
And the only way that we can do that is to not be so righteous in thinking that we have all the answers. Be a kid again, put on your five-year-old glasses and say, wow, this thing happened. I wonder what it's here for. Krishnamurti, one of my favorite philosophers, says that the highest form of enlightenment is observation. And so when you are stuck in a story, the best advice that I can give you is become a drone. Float up 10 feet above you and just watch the theater of life unfolding. And notice how it feels to watch yourself in a reactive state. Is that the highest intelligence moving through you? Is that what your 88-year-old self would want you to act like? Because your stories are shaping your behaviors, your behaviors are shaping your character. Your character is shaping, your leadership is shaping your legacy. It all starts with story. And the myth of storytelling is that it's the stories we tell others like you so accurately said, but actually it's the stories we tell ourselves that are the most important.
Josh:
Beautifully said. And shifting from the stories that we tell ourselves to stories that we tell others, your main thing on your side anyway is this notion that are stories that shift. And maybe you could explain that for us. What's a story that shifts and how is it different than a typical just a good old garden variety story?
Vika:
Yeah. I have this exercise called weed and seed. And imagine your life is a gorgeous garden and all of the stories are flowers and plants. And as you're walking through the garden, there's some weeds and these weeds have been there for so long that they're sucking vital nutrients out of the ground disguising themselves. And so the way that you shift that story is you get down on your hands and knees and you pull that weed out because if you cut it at the top, it'll just grow out, grow back. When you pull that weed out, you have a gaping hole. Here's where the shift happens. You take out the weed and you plant a seed of a brave new story. And so the stories that shift are the ones that shift you from paralysis of perfection, from not good enough, from I'm alone and I have to do this all by myself into a space of infinite possibility.
Because if I can nurture a seed that feels like a brave new direction, a brave new story, then I am not a slave to those old narratives that I never asked for that were imprinted on me by my family of origin, by my culture, and by my society. And so when I say stories that shift, it's stories that shift you from unconscious awareness to conscious awareness. It's stories that shift you from unconscious suffering to conscious suffering. And when I say suffering, it might trigger some people, but suffering is absolutely one of the hallmarks of being human. I mean, Arthur Brooks talks about suffering as a requirement for happiness. Non-essential suffering is the thing that destroys us. But if you can suffer consciously and if you can recognize that your storytelling of self is informing, conscious suffering is reinforcing conscious choice, then you are actually coming from a place of real agency and leadership of self, which allows you to then transcend that conflict internally into real inspired action externally. You're no longer in misalignment, you're no longer in chaos, and your team will feel that. And so the stories that shift are the ones that shift you from powerless to powerful.
Speaker 3:
Becoming a keynote speaker is an amazing profession. The top performers earn millions while driving massive impact for audiences around the world. But the quest to speaking glory can be a slow rot with many obstacles that can knock even the best speakers out of the game. If you're serious about growing your speaking business, the seasoned pros at ImpactEleven can help. From crafting your ideal positioning to optimizing your marketing effectiveness, to perfecting your expertise and stage skills. As the only speaker training and development community run by current high level speakers at the top of the field, they'll boost your probability of success and help you get there faster. That's why nearly every major speaker bureau endorses and actively participates in ImpactEleven. The ImpactEleven community provides you unparalleled access to the people relationships, coaching and accountability that compresses your time to success. To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impacteleven.com/connect.
Josh:
As someone who's an expert storyteller, one approach could be, well, I use this gesture technique, I use this rhythmic focus on language, and they can be very focused on the craft. I love your depth though. It's not just these little tactical trips to tell better stories. It's really bringing things like consciousness and purpose and forgiveness to life, and it almost feels almost like a monk-like connection, which is just such a beautiful thing to hear and see in your eyes. My question to you is this, get back to the gardening. There's one of my favorite quotes, and I don't remember who it's from, so I'm sorry for no attribution, but it's basically that the mind is like a garden. Plant flowers, get flowers, plant weeds, get weeds, plant nothing, get weeds. I've always loved that. And my question to you is as you work on elevating others at such a deep conscious level and elevating yourself, what do you plant in your own garden? What are the inputs that, you mentioned a couple authors that you read, but how are you sort of planting in your own garden to reach such deep states of wisdom?
Vika:
Thank you. Thank you for that reflection. I got goosebumps. I have a few practices I'm happy to share. One of them is I think of my life like a movie trailer. At the end of each night, I do a stream of consciousness, one page unfiltered, and I begin the first three sentences with I'm so grateful for. And I tune into something about that day that I'm so grateful for. I tune into something about myself that I'm so grateful for. I tune into something about friendship, about relationships because no matter what we think the science shows that relational wealth is far exceeding financial wealth. And then from that framework, this flow of images from the day come by and every night having a space to really anchor in what are the stories that so gorgeously decorated my day. That's one practice. Another practice that I do is I talk to strangers every day.
I think it's an act of humanity to be able to sit in the back of a cab and in 11 minutes ask, how are you really? Today I did that on my way here, and the cab driver said, "You're the first person to ask me that in two weeks. Thank you." Just asking and learning about each other's stories is some of the most profound conversations that I've had. It's the basis of the book that I'm writing. The other thing that I do for my spiritual practice is I make sure that I anchor in the wisdom of those teachers that are consistent teachers. It's one thing to read philosophy and poetry books, sure, but none of us are islands. And I feel very lucky that I have a dozen teachers in my life across all different modalities who I really respect and revere and have become some of my greatest guides. Even if I'm feeling lost, I imagine there's a small army of these wise teachers with full integrity holding me down through any of the chaos. And I would invite anyone who wants to walk this path of truth to surround yourself by a handful of teachers that you really trust with your life because it's like psychic surgery. When you let somebody shape your mind, you're letting them operate on your internal operating system.
Josh:
That's really a great point. And by the way, in teachers, we often think about mentors as all good or all bad. In the movies is that you have Luke Skywalker's all good, and Darth Vader is all bad, and that's the end of it. But in life it's a little more complicated than that. And I found that if you think about a mentor as someone that will be with you forever and ever and ever, and they have to be perfect and you want to emulate everything that they do, good luck finding that. But I look for these little micro mentors where you might learn something from one person, a little something from a different person. You might learn what not to do from a different mentor. And so the learning opportunities really do exist all around us. Speaking of mentors, and I appreciate your mentorship as it relates to story. There's the technique of story as we talked about, but then what I'm hearing you describe is the soul of story, the depth and the presence and the resonance. What advice or ideas of wisdom that could you share with all the storytellers that are listening right now and how they could be more impactful storytellers? Again, not so much from the technique perspective, but from the soul's perspective.
Vika:
Thank you for bringing that. People come to me all the time, they're like, Vika, how do I become a better storyteller? And they want those top five hacks, and it's like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound because what they fail to understand is that they are the instrument itself. And you know this as a musician, it's got to come from your soul. The story originates inside of you, and you just happen to have this vocal personality and these nonverbal motions and the light in your eyes and the energy that you emit. That's what makes the story sing. That's what makes the soul hum for the other person as well. And so how do you cultivate soulful storytelling? There's an expression that the reason why storytellers love to tell stories is because they get to relive it twice. And I've had the tremendous privilege of people coming up to me after a Moth or after a conference saying, I felt like I was right there with you.
And that's when I know I've done it right, because what I did was I traveled back inside myself when I was 21 backpacking Southeast Asia, when I was 26 as an ad exec, and I told the story from that emotional heart space, and that created a resonance that you can't teach as a technique. It has to be felt. It's the invisible. And when people feel the invisible authenticity, it can't be denied. That's why when somebody's bullshitting you in a story, you're just turned off. You don't trust them anymore. Soulful storytelling is irresistible, it's captivating, it's magnetic, and honestly, it's the only thing that is going to transfer the wisdom forward.
Josh:
So true about this notion of we all have very highly developed BS detectors, and I think there's been a real shift. We've talked about it on Mic Drop in the past maybe 15, 20 years ago in the world of professionals speaking, it was like these overexaggerated performances. It was the opposite of authentic. It was like cartoonish almost, and these big platitudes and cliches, and now it's really shifted. It's 180 from that. It's warmth, it's vulnerability, it's humanity, it's authenticity. And I think you really live that and are showing us all how to be better. When you think about your next steps and next chapter, I love that in every way, you're living in Portugal and you're doing fun things, but what is next for you? When you think about these next couple years, what's next professionally and how do you continue to develop and harness your capacity to tell great stories that move people to action?
Vika:
I've been thinking about this a lot with both sides of my lineage under siege in the last 18 months, and the responsibility to use my voice as a force of healing has never been more clear. I had a day off and I went into the studio and I recorded 21 tracks of guided visual story meditations because the mind can't distinguish between reality and imagination. I believe for me personally, it's about creating a media ecosystem so that when people are hurting, when they need wisdom, they have access to a podcast, a web series, a newsletter, a meditation album, a live course. All of these ways in which as I was going through my journey of unfurling and unraveling all the narratives of self I had in bits and pieces, but I didn't have fully. And I think the work of all of us as speakers is how do we ameliorate the suffering of all those that come before us, how do we make this messy endeavor of being human a little more joyful and a little less painful because the suffering will always be there. And so I feel really in my bones that for the next step, for me, it's to step out of this kind of indie artist that I've super enjoyed being for the last five years, and to grab the mic unapologetically and really share my voice.
Josh:
Well, I absolutely know that you will. And the world needs it. The world needs to hear from you in all aspects. It's such a strong and powerful voice and met with love and softness. Before we wind things down, I wanted to have a little fun. I noticed on your website, because I was preparing for today, and obviously we've spent some time together in person, but I wanted to be prepared. And I was looking through, and you have the coolest thing ever, you have suggested walk-on music. And I was like, oh, that's really cool. I have to borrow that idea. But one of the songs that you suggested is Girl From Ipanema. As a musician, first of all, it's one of my favorite songs. I'm a giant Jo Beam fan, and I actually have a little personal connection to that. As I was getting to Notia, she seemed out of reach for me and I was in a different situation, and she was my Girl From Ipanema.
She walked by every day and I saw her and my heart leapt out of my chest, and I was madly in love, but I sort of told myself this story that, oh, she'll never know. I can never tell her. She walks by and will never see me. And eventually I mustered up the courage to move forward. And thankfully, we've been married 10 years and she's love of my life. But so I have a personal connection to that story, but I was curious to hear from you, why did you choose Girl From Ipanema? How do you relate to that and how does that tie back to who you are and the message that you have?
Vika:
Yeah, Bossanova is a genre that just soothes the soul. And as I was backpacking, I found that music really punctuated certain cities. And no matter where I went, I would put on this Bossanova Classics mix on Spotify, and it immediately transported me to this place where there was no pain, no suffering, just pure creative joy. And I found myself writing and dancing, and this one song kept popping up. And it took a couple of times for me to realize that I would always pause at Girl From Ipanema. And that meant something. It meant something beyond words, beyond any rational or logical explanation. And so I decided that if this is the song that has been a creative muse, that has sparked some of my best ideas, it deserves to be the song that I walk on stage towards.
Josh:
Love that. And for anyone listening, first of all, they should of course check you out and all your great work. And they should also check out Antonio Carlos Jo Beam's work, a fabulous inspiration and musician songwriter. As we wind down our conversation, Vika, and I'm so grateful for your time today. I wanted to end with the big question. The question, because I know you're so reflective and you spent a lot of time introspection and really thinking about, you're very intentional about not only your words, but your actions, the way you live life, and your curiosity. How do you want to be remembered? I mean, you're this incredible storyteller and visionary and soul seeker. How do you want people to look back at you at some point in the future and say, oh yeah, that's what Vika was all about.
Vika:
I hope to be remembered as someone who believed in people before they believed in themselves. I hope to be remembered as somebody who could bring sunshine through the hardest of storms, who could bring warmth and joy to situations that seemed dire and hopeless, who fought for the best of humanity, who maybe childishly believed in the goodness of strangers. I hope to be remembered as somebody who was a rebel, who was brave enough to jump to the right when everybody else walked to the left. And in doing so, created a blueprint for others to follow their own path. I hope to be remembered as somebody who wakes people up to both their inner child and inner elder. I hope to be remembered as somebody who makes people feel aliver than alive.
Josh:
Well, you've certainly made us feel aliver than alive today. You've given us a bunch of sunshine. Your belief in all of us I think has inspired certainly me, and I know those listening to do great things. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It's been a wonderful conversation and we wish you incredible success as you move forward.
Vika:
Thank you. And if I may just say, Josh, what you have given me as an artist is the belief that I don't have to compromise my integrity, that I can share the truth of my work at scale. And what you've given me as an organization is a community where I don't have to be a lone wolf. And so for all of the voices that you are encouraging and birthing into the world, the seismic impact is unreal. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Josh:
Made my day. Thank you. That wraps up today's conversation with the vivacious Vika. As we close this episode, I'm thinking about the power of storytelling and why it's so central to what we do as speakers and humans. Today, Vika reminded us of how stepping onto the keynote stage isn't just about sharing experiences, but about creating connections, bridging cultures, and opening people's minds, including ours. Her perspective shows us how stories can be a potent force of empathy and of understanding, not just business success. Vika's adventures across the globe also prove that stepping into new environments and cultures can expand our empathy and perspective. It's not just about seeing new places, but also about experiencing the world through other people's eyes, understanding their joys and struggles, and finding our shared humanity. If that won't help us better connect with audiences, what will? Thank you, Vika, for sharing your stories and insights with us. And thank you, my friends, for joining us on today's exploration. Remember, everyone you meet has a story to tell. Thanks so much for joining me on another episode of Mic Drop.
Don't forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. If you love the show, please share it with your friends and don't forget to give us a five star review. For show transcripts and show notes, visit micdroppodcast.com. I'm your host, Josh Linkner. Thanks so much for listening, and here's to your next mic drop moment.