EP.126 - Alvina Nadeem - "Your Job Isn't To Question The Storm, Your Job Is To Make It Through It"

Middle Fingers Up

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This week on Middle Fingers Up, we’re holding space for a powerful voice during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day — Alvina Nadeem, a South Asian woman, mother, wife, AI innovator, keynote speaker, and cancer survivor who reminds us that survival isn’t just about staying alive, but about reclaiming our voice.
She shares the mantra she carried as an immigrant woman in a male-dominated field — “I’ll show them” — and how that grit both protected and pressured her. We talk about trusting your gut, naming what feels off, and advocating for your body when silence feels safer.
“I needed to survive,” she says, “but I also didn’t want to make it hard for others.”
We unpack the toll of quiet strength, what it means to choose presence over pride, and how to honor your instincts when the system tells you otherwise.
This conversation isn’t just about one story — it’s a challenge to the systems and cultural silences that keep so many of us suffering quietly. From survival mode to self-defined healing, this episode affirms that we have the right to ask, to name, and to fight.

Instagram: coachalvina

TikTok: OCWARRIORQUEEN

Chai & Hope: South Asian Cancer Community

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In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.