Podcast

Why We Need to Hear Your Unique Message | Karina Cotran

Naomi HaileNaomi HaileMarch 26, 20202 views

Karina recounts: “From childhood to adolescence to adulthood, everyone wants to feel like they belong somewhere. But sometimes, there is that one thing that makes you feel out of place at times. For me, that was my hearing impairment”.

Karina has an empowering story about her personal journey of hearing loss and receiving a cochlear implant at an early age. Karina’s journey is explored in her book Hearing Differently.Karina is 24 years-old, a writer, and has a BA in Professional Writing and Communications and has extensive experience in marketing, communications, and the world of creating captivating content.

Listen to the episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play

Find the full episode transcription here. Transcribed by Karina Cotran.

Let me know what you learned by sharing with Karina and Naomi, and the #PowerofWhy on Instagram

A little more details about our guest…

Karina Cotran is a professional communicator, and a published author of a collection of short stories that is centered around growing up with hearing loss. This inspired Karina to launch her blog: Hearing Differently. This blog and her book are some of the ways that she embraced her journey as a hearing loss advocate for young professionals in the deaf and hard of hearing community. Through her writing, she wants to empower those with hearing loss by providing a platform that those with hearing loss can relate to, and that others can learn from.

Connect with Karina Cotran

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter

Check out the episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play

Find the full episode transcription here. Transcribed by Karina Cotran.

Here are the show notes from Karina Cotran’s episode and some of our favourite moments…

KARINA’S WHY

I think back when I was 18 years old. I was just starting my second year of university and this was when my self-esteem was at the lowest. Not because of the typical things that bother you when you are eighteen, it was really because of my hearing loss. I let it rule over a lot of aspects of my life back then.

Like I said before, I let it stop me from actively dating. I let it stop me from doing extracurricular activities at school — from being who I wanted to be. I felt such a disconnect between the person that I wanted to be versus the person I actually was,  at the time. I had these constant negative thoughts and they always led back to my hearing loss.

It wasn’t until I said: “I can’t do this. I can’t live with this constant self-pity when there is no self-pity that needs to be had right now.” When you are eighteen, you should be exploring everything and anything. Learning how to become the person that you want to be. In the moments that I felt like giving up, I think back to my eighteen-year-old self and the thoughts that went through my head at the time. I never want anyone to go through those feelings. I want people to constantly feel excited and proud of who they are and what they are doing, regardless of their hearing loss or not.

SIX MEMORABLE MOMENTS WITH KARINA COTRAN

  1. Karina’s experience growing up with hearing loss [5:30]
  2. Karina talks about coming to terms with having hearing loss during university [7:17]
  3. Karina addresses why it was so important for her to be real about her personal insecurities, especially as it relates to building relationships [9:44]
  4. Karina’s experience in the workplace and how she navigated being on conference calls [19:00]
  5. What did Karina do “two years later than she expected”? [29:00]
  6. Karina’s morning and evening routine – what it is like to tune in and tune out [34:00]

#POWEROFWHYPODCAST

Loving the podcast? I encourage you to use the hashtag #PowerofWhy on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to show how you are living out and exploring YOUR WHY.

You can find Karina Cotran’s work here:

BONUS: Full episode transcription by Karina Cotran here

You can find Naomi Haile’s work here: