Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother.
She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives and emotions about this world.
In these difficult times in human history we need to bring the people of the world together.
And when we hear the voices of women, when we listen to real lives of women from other
countries we connect our cultures without differences or stereotypes and we get inspired
by their stories to live a better life.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Sara Lee Flajol.
Sara Lee is from Quebec, Canada, currently studying criminology and psychology in the
University of Ottawa.
She works in rehabilitation for individuals with mental disabilities and she has many
hobbies such as sports, volleyball, boxing, running, among other things, adventures, outdoors,
hiking and traveling.
Sara Lee believes that achievements are very broad and subjective but one of her tangible
achievements would be the acquisition of her IB diploma from United World College, EA.
She studied in Tanzania for two years in a more subjective way.
She is very proud of the work she has done on herself, her self-love and self-respect.
She has improved herself and worked towards being the best version of herself she can
be.
She is also very proud that she is more lenient on herself.
She used to have very high expectations that would set her up very easily for disappointment
but now she is appreciative of every little thing she achieves and feels very proud.
Sara Lee, how are you today?
I'm good.
Thank you so much.
It's an honor for me to be here with you and take part of Rare Girls.
It's a very interesting podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
I am privileged and very honored to have you here.
Super excited to discover more about you and very curious about you as a person.
So I'll begin with this nice first question.
If your friends, the people who know you best, could describe your personality, what would
they say about you?
A lot of my friends say I'm a little ball of sunshine.
When I enter a room, I usually light up a room so I'm very positive and very dynamic.
I always smile and I try to bring happiness towards my environment.
I think it's very important to me to share love and happiness and positivity.
So that's something I try to do as much as I can, especially for people I love, but also
do it with strangers.
Sometimes I just walk in the streets and do some good things for others when it's needed.
But I think that would be the first thing that would come to their mind.
I also study in psychology, so I'm a really good listener.
I give good advice.
They often come to me for any type of questions or advice they need in their life.
So yeah, I think that would be their answer, hopefully.
I love that answer.
And it always fascinates me to meet people who are, like you said, you're a ball of sunshine
spreading positivity because we seem to live in a time where people are riddled with anxieties,
where their brain is almost trained automatically to be negative, to complain, to have a dark
energy or cloud all around them.
So to ask you about this, what created this drive towards positivity within you?
Was it like some past trauma that when you have overcome it, you thought, no more darkness
and depression, I choose positivity and the bright light and sunshine?
Or is it you're born that way, just something part of your DNA and who you are?
Or is it like you're a person who loves pleasing others when you are the reason they're happy,
you feel even more happy and therefore it's caused by the expectation that the more positive
you are, the more you'll raise the level of happiness of others and that creates even
more happiness within you?
Or how does it work?
I guess it's a bit of all of those answers.
I'm pretty sure I was born a positive person.
I'm not going to lie, I was always positive.
Well, according to my mom, apparently when I was from zero to two years old, I was a
bit of a Grinch, but after that, I've always been very, always smiling, always happy.
So I guess I was born that way.
There was also a bit of a dark little time in my past where I chose after that, that
I was not going to let that affect me.
And I've always decided to share this positivity for others because I know that in the time
I was in a bit of a harder place, I would have loved someone to just be positive around
me and be a ball of sunshine basically.
So I guess that's also part of it.
And my mom, she's also my hero.
She raised me to give to others since a very young age, so I took part in my first volunteering
experience.
I was four and that was with my parents.
And when I was 12, I took part in my first volunteering experience independently.
So without my parents or without my family, I was visiting elderly residents for old adults
and they would just spend the day with me, they would talk to me, like I'd listen to
them, we would play games, like whatever would make them happy.
And I did that for seven years, which also led me to be the spokesperson for that foundation
later on when I was 18, I think.
So it's just been always part of my life to just bring smiles and happiness to people.
So I guess it's just a mixture of all of those things.
Yes.
Thank you.
And I could ask so much about that, but it makes me wonder because what I'm hearing about
you is something I wouldn't expect in someone studying a field like criminology.
So what gives?
How come out of all that you chose to study criminals, to dive into a darker world rather
than something like positive psychology or anything similar?
Yeah, I have to admit it's really a strange combination.
Well the criminal world always interests me from a very young age.
My mom is also very interested into that, so we would watch stuff together.
And I guess that's where the interest started, but as some of my teachers say, we need to
work with criminals in order to reduce criminality.
So I guess it's also a very good point in that.
But the criminology undergraduate diploma is for me just a way to get into law school
hopefully.
That said, I love my criminology classes and my psychology classes.
However, I really want to be a lawyer and I think it's just me being positive right
now is just a way to also prepare myself for the dark world of criminality.
So teachers talk about how it can be very heavy on a person to deal with criminals all
the time and I totally agree because they share some experience that they've had in
the past and it is heavy.
It's very heavy stuff and sometimes you can have tears in class listening to the teacher
talk about what they've seen, what they've heard.
So I think it's very important for me to keep that ball of sunshine and happiness and positivity
when my professional aspect of my life is going to be more dark.
So my personal life can be very much more bubbly and happiness and sunshine so I can
have a little balance between those two.
But yeah, I know what you mean by saying it's a very contrast between those two.
That is so interesting.
And since you mentioned it's a stepping stone towards becoming a lawyer and of course you
said you love criminology and psychology, it's a good preparation, well, lawyers are
more cutthroat and if you're a kind person who volunteers, helps people, does good deeds,
it's somehow they will think you're not Machiavellian enough to succeed.
So how will you deal with that?
What do you expect to do as a lawyer in order to both be effective dealing with people who
might be somehow on the psychopath scale?
Like some lawyers to be very effective, they have to be almost ruthless.
Well, how would you have an edge within that world without being eaten alive as I will
say in such a doggy eat dog profession?
Yeah, you're totally right.
I like to think of myself as someone very polyvalent so I have many skills, like I can
also adapt anywhere so I have a very high adaptation skills.
So I've been in debate clubs before, I've been running for presidency for my school,
like I've been in a position where I put myself in a debate type of thing where people are
kind of rootless and I have really, really good debate skills, like I usually tend to
get to my point very quick and I tend to like very, I don't know how to explain it, but
I don't need to be mean or to be rootless in order to make a point.
However, you mentioned working with criminals, my preferred aspect of being a lawyer would
be to work as a prosecutor so I would work against the criminals.
It is a harder job because, I don't know if you know a little bit about the justice system
in Canada, but in Canada we have to prove that someone is 100% guilty out of any doubts,
which is harder for the prosecution to prove than the defense because the defense just
has to raise some doubts that the person is innocent and his job is over basically.
So it's a bit of a more challenging job but I am so up for it, I've always loved challenges
so I guess I am ready for it, even though I'm a very caring person, I care for people
around me, I think I can compartmentalize those two things, like I know I can stand
up in a court and say what I have to say, make my point across, and do my job as much
as being a good person outside of job and making others happy nonetheless.
Thank you, and I love that you're using the word polyvalent, it makes me even more interested
to explore the other parts of who you are.
And one of the things is adventure, sports, but I will not ask a typical question, it's
more that a person who is interested in adventure, sports is more of a dopamine junkie and thrill
seeker and adrenaline lover who gets bored super easily and loves new emotions and drama
and maybe that's why you'd love to relax by watching a murder mystery documentary thing,
which many girls seem to love to do.
To you then, two things, being a lawyer for example requires almost memorizing so much
when it comes to statutes and laws and regulations and being a prosecutor, it's a lot of reading
up to 4am sometimes, etc.
So how do you create and maintain and have discipline in your life without killing your
sunshine bubbly part and without killing your soul, which might, I don't know if you agree
or you'll say something different, whether you're a person who loves new and exciting
things and gets bored easily, well without getting too bored?
That's a very good question, it's a balance that I am only a second year in university
and while I did my IB diploma in Tanzania, I was also in the learning, so it's always
a challenge for students, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to find a balance between
school and life in general.
I try to do as much as active breaks, so I try to go on walks, I try to go explore, just
to take some breaks from studying, it is hard, I have to say it is hard to find this balance
because especially since I have more classes with a major and a minor, it can be very hard
sometimes but I think I can keep, like I started to keep a pretty good balance between my life
and my active life and my school dedication.
I understand, and as someone who's studying psychology, criminology, did this affect or
impact how you perceive people where when you're speaking with any person, your brain
keeps analyzing and profiling them psychologically or thinking about the situation in the context
of some psychological principles because I know that a lot of movie directors, for example,
cannot absolutely anymore enjoy movies because they keep on seeing it in terms of where is
the camera positioned, how is the lighting, where is the shot on the face of the actor
rather than being immersed in the story, did this happen to you, was it something you always
had maybe, and that's what pushed you and encouraged you to go to psychology and criminology
and tell me more about your ability to observe people based on the courses and the subjects
you're taking.
I have to say it is hard sometimes but I try not to because it wouldn't be fair to people
around me and to myself because I want to get to know people in a very neutral way and
unbiased without analyzing them and I want to actually take time to get to know them
outside of psychology or criminology.
I have to say it does happen sometimes, especially when I get to know people a little bit more.
I'm not a very shy person in general but when I get into new social groups or a new social
environment I tend to very much be observative at first so I'd sit back, look at people,
see where people stand, how do they look, which one I would relate more and then I can
make moves.
This can make people think that I'm shy at first and I don't want to talk to people but
I'm just analyzing everything and who I want to be friends with.
However, life is not always like that.
We don't always have the time to sit back and analyze and look at who we want to be
friends with but that's what I like to do.
I guess it's just a preference.
Some people could call it a mechanical defense because you want to make sure your friends
are good but I try not to analyze people around me but sometimes it's like I can't help it.
It's just there and I think about it but I try not to as much as I can.
Some of my friends have asked me to analyze them and they've asked me, oh, what should
I do?
Why do you think I am like that?
I would use that knowledge and I would use that experience when they ask me to but if
they don't ask me, I would try not to.
Thank you.
Knowing that you're now in Ottawa and you're originally from Quebec which has its own culture,
its own ways of being, how maybe to some people who are listening and are curious about this,
how do you feel that people from other parts of Canada are different compared to the Quebecois?
Did you experience any small culture shock during that time and maybe even more, I don't
know, maybe your culture is now mixed between Quebec and Tanzania and then you return to
Canada as a hybrid person but how was adapting to Tanzania and how was adapting to Ottawa
as a person who comes from Quebec and how is the culture different for Quebec people?
Yeah, that's a very good question.
I have to say especially for like Quebec Canada, mine upset others, I think the cultural difference
is there and it doesn't take away the fact that I love the country, like I love Canada.
It's an amazing place, it has beautiful landscape, people are lovely, like honestly I don't think
I've ever met people as nice as in Canada.
I have to say Tanzanian is very nice too but so it's just a matter of fact that we have
different languages, we also celebrate different holidays or we don't celebrate what they celebrate
so I know in Quebec we celebrate La Fête Saint-Jean which is the Quebec Day, it's on
oh my god, I might get hated for this but I think it's on June 24th or 25th, I think
it's 24th and I know like Canadians celebrate more July 1st which is Canada Day.
So those are different things, at least my family and I know people around me don't really
celebrate Thanksgiving which is I know a very big thing in Canada so there's like small
cultural differences like that which I personally don't think it's very challenging for me to
adapt from Quebec to Ottawa especially because Ottawa is so close to the border of Quebec
so basically I can walk for five minutes and I'll be in Quebec so it's really close to
the city of Gatineau and so the cultural differences are not very there, there's a lot of French
speaking people, there's a lot of Quebec people in general so that's really not hard to do
however the cultural shock was a little bit more present when I went to Tanzania but like
I said earlier I'm a very adaptable person so I don't have trouble getting in a new environment
and adapting to what's around me, it was I don't know how to explain what it was in Tanzania
because everything it was just like the sun and the moon and the night and the day.
Thank you so much Sara Lee, it was my privilege and my honor to interview you to know you
better and just to finish this we live in a time of social media where many girls compare
themselves to photoshopped photos of and lives had seemed perfect of other women of people
all over the world and they feel depressed, they feel their confidence eroded.
So to end this, what is your perspective on this topic?
What advice do you have for them so that's similar to you when you spoke about your journey
of self-love, self-respect, they can build that in a way where they feel stronger and
as empowered women who can take on the world without feeling that social media is destroying
their self-esteem?
That's a very good question and I have so many advice that I could not cover in like
the short amount of time I have here but what I would have to say is that your body is able
to do things for you and you should just love it for it like I'm able to walk and to beautiful
places, I'm able to do hikes to beautiful places so I should really love my body for
what it is and I try to always remember that the way I look at myself is so much different
than like what others see me like I'm very confident around my friends so sometimes I
ask them I'm like oh like do I look like this and they're like no Sarah like you're beautiful
so I think like sharing your thoughts and opinion with your friends is very very important
because they can be able to like encourage you and help you up so I think that's very
important.
Thank you so much Sara Lee, I wish you success in your studies, I wish you in the future
to become a big big lawyer who can actually balances her life in a way where you will
have both the sunshine volunteering and happy outdoors moments and prosecuting criminals
in a way that brings more justice to this world.
Thank you again for participating and I wish you a great 2023.
Thank you so much, you too.
