Defying the Odds and Embracing Inner Strength with Kavita Basi

When Kavita Basi experienced a life-altering brain hemorrhage, she didn't just survive—she thrived. 

Our latest episode features this remarkable Chief Exec of Jardin Living, author, and ambassador for neurocharities, as she shares her shift from the world of high fashion to the forefront of ethical and sustainable living. 

Kavita's reflections on resilience, adaptation, and the strategies that helped her navigate memory loss will give you a new perspective on overcoming obstacles

Don't miss this episode to find out how success and social responsibility can go hand in hand.

Listen to learn:

• The power of self-belief in overcoming obstacles
• Strategies for persevering when life throws unexpected challenges
• The vital role of support systems in times of adversity
• How personal experiences can be used to make a positive impact on others in need

You can now nominate for the 2025 Northern Power Women Awards to be in with a chance of celebrating with changemakers, trailblazers and advocates on 6th March 2025! Nominate now at wearepower.net

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

The Northern Power Women podcast for your career and your life, no matter what business you're in. Well, hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast, Our podcast where we talk to and with the most phenomenal role models, hear from what their stories are, find out what some of those great coping strategies, the advice, the tips, support that you can take away into your life, your career, no matter what stage you're at or what industry you're at, just to help you on your way. And this week I think we talk a lot, don't we? About inspiration, and inspiration with a big capital. I is definitely something I would put around this week's amazing guest, Kavita Bassey. She's the Chief Exec of Jordan Living author, multiple author, actually Speaker, Ambassador for Neurocharities and on this year's Northern Power Women at Powerless. Thank you so much for giving us the time and joining us on the we Are Power podcast this week, Kavita, Hi there.

Speaker 2: 1:37

So thank you so much for having me as well. I'm really really excited to share just some of my story and you know I'd be here for hours if I had to tell my whole story.

Speaker 1: 1:49

so just trying my best to, you know, give someone a little bit of that hope really 100%, and I've obviously we we know a lot about you from sort of the the whole process around the Northern Power Women Awards and hearing about your story and hearing about your journey. But where your working world start was in the world of fashion, wasn't it? And you were in that sort of flurry of a world, a busy world, a crazy world and that's where you started, wasn't it? And that was before you really found sort of the mission and the purpose that you're in. What did that whole world and expertise of fashion teach you?

Speaker 2: 2:26

It was oh, I did a thing at another panel guest and basically I used to love being in the fashion industry and it's the excitement, it's a rush, it's, you know, meeting extraordinary people, like once I met Jodie Kidd at a fashion show.

Speaker 2: 2:46

I was sitting next to her and then when I stood up and she stood up, I was up to her waist because I'm so small, but it was a very exciting time and I have no regrets. But I was on this panel discussion the other day and they said that what would you leave behind in the world? And I would say that everything I learned about fashion at that time I would completely leave it behind, because everything I do now is completely, you know, more ethical, more sustainable and it's completely different. And yeah, I think at the time though it was amazing, like you would get up one morning and you would be in Hong Kong, and you would get up the next morning and you would be somewhere like New York or Paris, or you know, sometimes I used to wake up in the middle of the night and not know where I was.

Speaker 1: 3:44

It was that fast and that quick the whole industry, the ultimate fast fashion right. Really not knowing where you are in the world. I know I'd seen an awful lot of hotel rooms, I imagine Definitely.

Speaker 2: 3:58

But it also made me very appreciative of my home and my family and sort of where. You know where I come from. That was always, you know, a good thing, I would say. But yeah, it was a lot of pressure as well, definitely.

Speaker 1: 4:15

And then, nine years ago I think, you were doing something as normal as watching Mr Selfridge on the TV in a normal evening, and then something happened.

Speaker 2: 4:26

Yeah, it was just something that you know, I regularly used to have headaches and that was just simply because I was traveling so much and because I was doing so much and with very little rest, I would say. And this time, thankfully, I was at home with my family and it was, you know, middle of the night. I drifted off, after, you know, watching the program. I had my kids in my bed with me and everything, and I drifted off and basically woke up with this excruciating pain through like the back of my head, and all I can describe it, which I have before many times, is like a sledgehammer going right through my head. And I just got up, started screaming, tried to wake my husband up. He was in shock, he didn't know what was going on. Um, I fell unconscious and just collapsed and that was it and then you were.

Speaker 1: 5:29

It was, I'm right, I think it was at Salford hospital that you went to. Yeah, um.

Speaker 2: 5:34

I'd stopped breathing and everything and my daughter had rang the ambulance and said that you know something's happened to my mum described everything. They rushed me to Wythenshawe Hospital. They scanned me. They knew straight away from what they were describing and then I got rushed to Salford Royal like straight away, and that evening is when they did their first operation and what they told my husband was just be prepared, you probably won't be able to take your wife home. You know this is really severe. It's 50% mortality and the 50% that do survive are, you know, paralyzed, brain damaged, can't speak, can't talk on, you know, walk. There's a lot of things that you know happen and they were not very hopeful because the one I had was a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is probably one of the worst ones.

Speaker 1: 6:30

And when I've read up about this and in our conversation prior, that you lost weeks, didn't you? You lost weeks of your memory that you only really know what happened now because of the record that your husband and your family kept at that time. I can't even imagine how you lose six weeks of your life there.

Speaker 2: 6:52

I know it's really hard because I still suffer. I've got side effects now which I've been left with. I still suffer from short term memory loss, but I have lots of tools that I use. Memory loss, but I have lots of tools that I use. I am very grateful for my husband and my daughter keeping like logs, keeping videos. They even gave me a book while I was in hospital to write my emotions and how I'm feeling like every day, because they knew that when I was, because they used to play those videos back to me each day, because it was like Groundhog Day for them. I'd wake up and say where am I? What's happening? Have I just had a baby? Is it 1985? They used to ask me questions like who's president? And I said Margaret Thatcher. So it was a really I mean. For them it was so scary because my husband thought I wouldn't even remember who he was, but thankfully I did. But it was really really scary for them. But they could see the improvements daily by them showing me the videos, making me write things down, explaining to me different things and just trying to give me that positive inspiration back to me so that I could continue to improve each day.

Speaker 2: 8:11

But don't get me wrong, the hospital was a really, really challenging time because I had another stroke when I was in the hospital, um, where the whole left side of my body stopped working.

Speaker 2: 8:26

And you know, while I was, he was feeding me, my husband, and while he was feeding me I started slurring my words and couldn't talk properly and I became like paralyzed on one side and they had to do.

Speaker 2: 8:40

They did four operations on me while I was there and it was it, um, it was, like I said, so scary for him because he just thought again, that's it. And even when they saw that, they said well, she isn't going to make it, she is going to be paralyzed now and, um, I don't know what it was, but I must have had this inner strength to really sort of defy everything that they were saying and really really push forward. But while I was in that hospital I did have a couple of out-of-body experiences that I do remember and I still dream about them and I do feel that there was some force or some help while I was there that got me through all of this, and I don't know what it was, but you know, I wrote about that, you know, in my diaries and then later on got it published in my book and it's that there's something there, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 9:36

And you have this hope around you and the support in your family, but there must've been those days where you just thought gosh, am I? Was it room 23? That's what your book is, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 9:48

Yeah, I was actually in room 24 in hospital but I called it room 23 because there's a bit of a twist in the book. But it's yeah, it's room 23,. Surviving a brain hemorrhage. And it's available on like lots of different channels and even on Audible, because it was important for me.

Speaker 2: 10:09

It took me nine hours to record a three and a half hour book because I can't read. If I was talking about it I could just say it, but because I had to read it from word to word again. Another side effect I've got is I can't read in the full capacity as what I used to, so I miss words, miss sentences. So I'd be recording it in the recording studio and they would like say Mrs Bassey, I think you've like forgotten the whole chapter there, or full paragraph. So I'd have to go over it. So it was. It was really difficult for me but again it was something that I really wanted to do because I know a lot of people who have had stroke or had a brain hemorrhage or have neuro conditions aren't able to have that concentration.

Speaker 1: 10:58

So an audible book was just had to be done and and this, without a doubt, for anyone listening and anyone who knows what you've gone through was just beyond the traumatic time in your life, but this was a point for you that helped you really realize what your purpose was, how.

Speaker 2: 11:19

I think that I already had a passion of changing the way I did things before I was seriously ill and I used to create. Well, I created a vision board, I think, first of all, when I came out of hospital and my vision board basically says I don't know if I've got it to hand here, but it says charity, it says sustainability, it says fashion and it says it's got home things on there family, you know. It has like certain key words that completely resonate with me and I put that vision board in front of me and used to wake up to it and put it like in all the different places where you know I would sit and just chill out and what have you? And a lot of things happen. I sort of feel that since my brain hemorrhage, my brain's like shifted a little bit and you know how they say your new neurons rewire and all of that kind of thing. I do feel like that's happened. I feel like I've gone back to my 16 year old Kavita that used to love painting, that was very creative, that loved singing and dancing and that kind of those kind of things, and I've channeled all of that and used what I absolutely love to do, and every single day. I don't waste any time like I will do a painting, or I will sit and just listen to a really amazing you know book that that's going to inspire me, or I will sit and work on my two brands, which I love, which is Rationale and Reflex One, two ethical brands that I've brought up. And also I also use that time to really focus on my family and really spend time with them, because all those years that I spent rushing around doing everything trying to and even though I don't regret it, because I was supporting my family, supporting my home and that's happened, but I don't want to waste any more time.

Speaker 2: 13:31

So I really make sure that my days are filled with really good things and I enjoy every single day, and I think it's so important to be able to do that. Even in the morning. I wake up and the first thing I say is I'm grateful that I'm here. I'm grateful for, you know, my home, my family, I'm grateful to be loved and it's really important to me. Other days I do my yoga in the morning. I have my office space and I've got my yoga mat next to me, because if I want to have a really good day and focus yoga is like the best thing. So I'm like really focusing and channeling what I need to do.

Speaker 2: 14:13

So it's really important for me and anyone, and even if you've not had an illness, it's just important to embrace life and during covid that sort of brought everyone together in that way, in that thinking. But I do feel that after covid has has gone, um, and that timing has gone, where everyone's gone back to their, you know, normal lives, I do feel they've lost a little bit of that and and whereas I've kept it going and it's just been so, so, so important to me. And also that's when I wrote my second book, which was 23 Ways to a Happier Life. I wrote it during COVID because I just thought these are the things that I will always remember and I don't want it to go away. So it's like something, a memoir that I've got there for life now.

Speaker 1: 15:10

But you talk about, you know, having to work at a slower pace. Yeah, we've just talked about two books. You launched a company during COVID. You've not only built two brands, but these are absolutely ethical and purposeful brands. We talk about people being able to do it all, but how are you growing these brands, using your voice and power for good to share your story and pass on your knowledge? You know there's 23 ways to a happy world. How have you actually managed to do all of that, but also still being kind to yourself because you're operating at a slower pace? What's your secret?

Speaker 2: 15:57

I think that you know, if you think about it and if you've got you think you've got eight hours in the day, and if you have those eight hours at working day, you utilize it accordingly. You take your breaks, you focus on your phone calls in the morning and have your diary of what you need to do and you sort of fill that day accordingly. But if you think you've only got three hours in that day, your mind tends to focus so much more. So you pick up the important things that you need to do for that work day, because that's literally what I've got. I only have three hours. I have to sleep every day during the day because I lose concentration and my brain gets tired. I want to do the fun things as well. So I think that's the first thing is having that focus and concentration and knowing your hours and your limit. And then the other thing that I do as well is I have an amazing family that helps me.

Speaker 2: 17:00

Sometimes I'm sitting here and my husband does tend to make me a cup of tea, which is really lovely of him. He has his own job and he has his own work, but he does do that caring part. And my, my kids, who um are currently my daughter's working from home at the moment and my son is off from uni and occasionally I will request their help, which is really really. But on top of that, I have an amazing team a work team that is really really amazing with me and they have their own hours, they know what they have to do and they are fantastic. I don't thank them enough, actually. So my work team are amazing.

Speaker 2: 17:43

But on top of that, I do work with a lot of universities, and the universities provide me with amazing students that want to achieve and learn and get educated within this industry, and, whether it's on marketing or whether it's on production or whether it's on design different areas they want to learn from someone like me and I love doing that, like I love talking to people and teaching. So the universities also support me with giving me a team. So it's imperative that you know your time, you know your focus, but you also have a good team behind you, whether they're family or whether they're, you know, work colleagues. It's all very, very relevant and very important, but don't forget, you know, I did my book, my first book during you know, the time I was off after I was unwell, and my second book was done during COVID, so now I just focus on myself and my brands and you know teaching as well, teaching the university students.

Speaker 1: 18:53

That's my focus right now, so I don't do everything all at once, but you also find time to be an ambassador for three charities as well, don't you think you missed that one out as well? The paying forward bit as well, it just yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:06

So the thing is the charities that I support and you know some of them. A couple of them are really, really amazing in the fact that I'm more involved with them, and the others it's just as and when. So the charities are the Brain and Spine Foundation UK I'm an ambassador for them and I'm also on their board of trustees, so I try and make more of a difference in that way and rationale. The, the shoe brand, which is behind me, which I've also got my trainer here as well um, this actually gives five percent of profits to the brain and spine foundation. And then the b foundation. I'm actually going to philadelphia, um, next week to see them and they're doing an ambassador retreat. So they're based in the USA, philadelphia, and my other brand, reflex One, gives 5% of profits to them and both of my books give profits to both the charities.

Speaker 2: 20:02

And then the third one is Emilia Clarke's charity, same you. So with them it's a little bit, um, not as involved, but you know I do speak to them regularly and whenever they put out posts on social media, I tend to like celebrate their posts or repost them and connect them with. You know who they need to be connected with. So it's really, really I love being part of those charities because I do want to give back and even though I'm giving back through my brands and my books, it's just another.

Speaker 1: 20:34

So I always call it like brain, brands, books, the three b's, um, which is, you know, tagged along my name, bassy, um, it's, it's what I want to do and that's really, you know, my future, that's my everything and what would be that advice that you would give to someone out there who hasn't used to be here and bounced back in a way or learned to navigate in a different way their life, someone who who hasn't sort of found that? What would you say to them?

Speaker 2: 21:03

and I think that it's so important to, first of all, believe in yourself, really, really, you have to believe in who you are and be yourself and believe in yourself, but also be yourself. Don't try and be something else that you can't. The second thing is I would definitely say that don't give up, because you might come across certain situations, certain paths, whether it's in life or work or family, whatever it is. Don't give up. Please, just have that belief and don't give up. And then the third thing is you know, keep that vision board, have that future focus, because if you don't have something that you want to strive to, you become like very much just there and you want to always, you know, develop yourself and move forward.

Speaker 2: 21:55

I'm like someone who always wants to educate myself, I'm always learning, I'm always want, I feed off that energy and it's really important. But lastly, you've got to take good care of yourself, have that self-care. You know that is probably the most important thing out of everything is look after yourself, because if you can't look after yourself, you can't function for everyone else, for your family you know, being a mum of two and a little puppy because that's important, it's really important to look after yourself.

Speaker 1: 22:32

Kavita, you are a total, utter inspiration and I'm so honored to have had this time with you today. Look forward to meeting you in person uh, very soon, but thank you so much for joining us on our we Are Power podcast, and I'm so grateful for um getting the award.

Speaker 2: 22:49

Um, you know, and you know, it's amazing to be part of this community and thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 22:57

Oh, thank you so much, and thank you to all of you for listening out there. Thank you for keeping these conversations going, because it is so important that we pass on this knowledge, this inspiration, this guidance and hope and stay connected on all of our socials. We Are Power on Facebook and LinkedIn and we Are Power underscore net on TikTok, instagram on TikTok and Twitter. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Simone. This is the we Are Power podcast of what Goes On Media production.