Storyteller Nneka Julia Is Stepping Up for Change

As the host of two podcasts, Passing Through and The Layover Podcast, Nneka Julia chronicles her mental and spiritual journeys from traveling. The storyteller's parents, who're both immigrants from Cambodia and Nigeria, are the catalysts behind her passion for self-education and exploration.

"We become what we think about," Julia tells PAPER and SOREL. "So for me, self education — what I think therefore I become — these things are essential in regards to building a life that you want and becoming the person that you want."

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Nneka's drive to learn more about herself and how she interacts with the world — experiencing different cultures and hearing people's stories — has led her to making new connections all over. This, she says, has helped her unlearn what she's previously been taught is possible.

"Work harder on yourself than you do on everything," Julia says, because "we attract that what we are."

As the third in PAPER's four-part video series with SOREL spotlighting Black changemakers who're stepping up (to inspire, educate, change and unite), watch how Nneka Julia educates through conversations about personal growth and the possibilities of life.

"There's worlds within worlds," she says, "and all of it is possible."

Direction and editing: Annie Bercy