Bald Really IS Beautiful: Leadership, Advocacy and Authencity

Deirdre Nero, an immigration attorney and owner of Nero Immigration Law, P.L., joins Access Your Leadership to share her incredibly inspiring story about her life and career after being diagnosed with alopecia at the young age of twenty-one. In this episode, Deirdre shares how you came to learn of her disease and how it impacted and also didn’t impact her success as a law student, young attorney and eventually law firm owner. Deirdre describes the unique circumstances and the self-leadership that was required to venture into immigration law in her first year as a practicing attorney and how that determination allowed her to power through various personal challenges to celebrate great success in her career and recently 15 years of owning her own firm. How do we react to potentially devastating challenges in our lives? Where does self-leadership play a role in managing oneself and their career? What happens if we never have the courage to simply ask or advocate for ourselves? How do we prioritize our personal lives and self care while also building a career? What is the mindset required to process a completely unexpected situation where your self-image is in question? How important are the people around you and building a community when coping with challenging circumstances? Why is knowing oneself and our own personality type (strengths, fears, vulnerabilities) so important when leading ourselves and others? What does it mean to be called to a cause and how can helping others also be a way of helping ourselves? How do we continue to move forward when it feels like the chips are stacked against us and what does that teach us about ourselves? So many of these questions and more are discussed in this powerful conversation with Deirdre, an attorney and advocate for so many! Enjoy the episode and please take the time to educate yourself about and support the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF).

Feedback (I/we want to hear from you):

You can connect with Deirdre on LinkedIn, Instagram and her other social media sites

You can email Deirdre directly at [e-mail] 

Did this podcast spark something in you or get you to take action in some way? I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on our conversation. You can hit me up on Instagram @lakhdar_coaching, LinkedIn: /hakimlakhdar, Twitter @LakhdarCoaching, and Facebook/LakhdarCoaching

I’m always looking to connect with people who are passionate about leadership as well as companies who value and support strong leaders in their own organization. If that’s you or you know someone then drop me a line at [e-mail] 

Check out previous episodes of Access Your Leadership on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Check out these links!

1. Nero Immigration Law, P.L. - https://neroimmigration.com/ 
2. Deirdre Nero’s firm bio - https://neroimmigration.com/about-us/deirdrenero/  
3. The National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) - https://www.naaf.org/
4. To support Deirdre and her work with NAAF - https://support.naaf.org/campaign/deirdre-nero-fundraising-page/c250369