Growing with Purpose
Growing with Purpose
Jean Moncrieff
Hamsa Yaqo: Resourceful, reflective, and ready for new adventures
44 minutes Posted Mar 4, 2025 at 7:00 pm.
A serendipitous Small Giants journey
Moving fast at Mango Languages
A childhood on the move
Building bonds in academia
Areas for improvement
“You have to enjoy what you do”
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44:19
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Show notes
On this very special episode of the Growing with Purpose podcast, I sit down with Hamsa Yaqo, formerly the Executive Director of the Small Giants Community, and now a board member. Hamsa is also the Co-Founder of Kintsugi Village, a non-profit hub in Detroit that will provide a childhood education center, artist incubator, culinary kitchen, and more to the local community. 
Many of you likely know Hamsa as the bright, caring leader who helmed the Small Giants Community operations for nearly a decade. But you may not know about her previous time in the education and tech sectors, as well as her journey with her family from Iraq to the US when she was 12 years old. All of these experiences have shaped Hamsa into the leader she is today; ready to embark on a new journey in the non-profit space and give back to a city that she loves.
Listen to this episode to hear Hamsa and I discuss what it was like for her to be the eldest child of an immigrant family, how learning a new language in a new country made her resourceful, the tough lessons she’s learned as a leader, and so much more. 
 
Show Notes: