Jul 23, 2018
Aisha Alfa is one powerful and creative women. Our story goes
back to when we met first as competitors and later as team mates on
the soccer pitch. We both played competitive soccer (football)
growing up and as life would have it, we crossed paths many times
later on in our adult lives. Aisha is such a magnificent and
creative women. She is constantly reinventing herself and following
her passion to lead the life she desires. In listening to her on
the show today, you will hear how she has woven so many of her
talents along her journey, learning some really hard lessons and
using her sport psychology background to help her navigate her
journey into the entertainment industry where she made her
breakthrough on an NBC comedy contest and the rest is history,
well, history in the making! It’s always so much fun to speak with
Aisha, she keeps things light and funny, but all of it is grounded
in such purpose and meaning. I hope that you will enjoy her
perspective of finding her way, remaining authentic and attaining
your goals.
Aisha Alfa was born in Nigeria, grew up in Canada, lived in South
Korea and France and has traveled all over the world. She now makes
her home in Los Angeles, CA. Aisha is an actor, comedian, host and
writer. After retiring from playing soccer professionally and
overseas in a men's league, Aisha moved back to Winnipeg, Canada
where she started her acting training/career. She got an
opportunity to try stand-up comedy and hosting through her acting
training and all three became pillars of her career. She has gone
on to appear in TV, film, commercials, festivals, live events and
new media programming throughout the world. Aisha has a degree in
psychology from the University of Alberta, specializing in sport
psychology. She played varsity soccer for the university and left
with a National Championship win and two silver medal
finishes!
In addition to acting, Alfa is also a standup comedian and has
performed at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, the
Winnipeg Comedy Festival, the Montreux Comedy Festival in
Switzerland and at various comedy clubs in South Africa. She shares
her birthday with Albert Einstein (March 14) and her favorite
number is pi, which she has memorized to 25 digits.
One of my favourite parts of our conversation is on the importance
of “celebrating” along the way – both big and small wins, work
related or just regular life events and Aisha gives a great
suggestion on how she practices this by creating a “Win Wall” with
her friends – I’m going to suggest we do the same. Leave me a
comment below or join our new secret facebook group called
“Fempowered” (from my "Dr. Andrea Kraj, P.Eng" facebook page) and
leave your comment there. This is a safe space for you to join
like-minded women and fix each other’s crowns like true Queens. See
you on the Win-Wall Friends!
Namaste,
Andrea
WE DISCUSS:
- How we both share a passion for a very distinct favourite number - pi!
- Her background in competitive sports, starting from a very young age, where our paths crossed
- How she didn’t know what she wanted to do growing up, but had many interests
- How she decided to go to the U of Alberta following her passion for competitive soccer and the doors that opened for her overseas from there
- How she got to playing soccer in a competitive men’s league in Korea as the first women ever
- The time in her life of weird high impact sports and finding her way
- Her favourite language and how she followed her passion to go learn it
- How she started her life again from zero to create the life she wanted moving forward
- What her first business, Alfa Life Coaching, taught her
- Her “lightbulb” moment that pivoted her business and life
- What her goals and dreams are now
- How she brings her life experience from Winnipeg to the world stage
- How she moved her life to Los Angeles
- How she proved she was an “alien of extraordinary ability”
- The perspective of women in the comedy industry today
- How the comedy industry is transforming and shifting
- The calls that are currently out for the under-represented stories in the entertainment industry
- What motivates Aisha
- How Aisha integrates her work-life for balance
- How Aisha handles rejection in her industry and her strategy for getting gigs
- What Aisha’s dream gig used to be and what it is now
- Her advice for anyone breaking into the entertainment industry
- Her ladder analogy for attaining your goals
- The importance of Celebrating and how the “Win Wall” helps to do it
- Our perspective on good vs. bad intimate relationships
- Aisha’s hidden talents
- Aisha’s desired superpower
- How Aisha defines success
- Where you can find Aisha next!
- The Goddess that I assign to Aisha