What Survival Was Built to Hide

What does it cost to be so good at surviving that no one — not even you, at first — notices what it's taking?

Aman Singh is, by trade, a translator of complexity — she leads global sustainability communications, shaping narrative for some of the biggest names in retail and consumer brands. She is very good at telling other people's stories. This episode is about what happened when she tried to tell her own. After their first conversation, Aman wrote back to Renay: she felt rattled and unsatisfied, like she'd stayed in the safety of talking about work instead of life. So they sat down again.

What follows traces survival as a discipline Aman learned early — growing up in Delhi, where a billion people compete for the same resources and falling short of the best isn't an option — and how that instinct followed her into corporate America, through eleven years of a New Jersey Transit commute with a breast pump in her bag, through the quiet arithmetic of trying to be a full-time mother and a full-time contributor on the same twenty-four hours everyone else gets.

Aman talks about the moment the math stopped working, the permission she eventually gave herself to make different choices, and the small daily practices — Pilates, an hour of fiction, a good cry when she needs one — that keep her from constantly digging for why.

She and Renay talk about what it means to be "well" even when you feel overwhelmed. As Aman puts it, the cost is all internal — no one outside sees it. She closes with what she wants to be remembered for: not a title, but usefulness.

This isn't a conversation about work-life balance. It's about what it costs to remember who you are underneath the role.

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Aman Singh
Aman Singh leads sustainability communications at Kenvue, maker of brands such as Aveeno®, BAND-AID®, Listerine®, Neutrogena® and Zyrtec®, helping support the consumer health company’s Healthy Lives Mission and deepen the connection between healthy people and a healthy planet through storytelling. Prior to joining Kenvue, she served as the Director for Global Communications – Sustainability and Energy Transformation at Walmart where she worked across functions to connect the dots between the company’s sustainability priorities, shared value approach, and commitment to regeneration with its stakeholders, partners and key influencers.

Before joining corporate communications, Aman spent 12+ years leading a variety of communication and strategy projects across the broad sustainability space with agencies including Edelman, Futerra and CRI Inc., and in collaboration with cross-sector clients. Prior to the consulting world, she led global media platform CSRwire and began shaping her professional footprint as a journalist with The Wall Street Journal. A self-described dot connector, she is passionate about storytelling and engagement and experienced in unraveling the knots of sustainability, business, shared value and motivations. She stays grounded thanks to her sassy kids and the ever changing nature of mommy-ing!

J. Renay Loper
Renay is a Clinical Faculty in Organizational Leadership for the Bard MBA in Sustainability, where she focuses on justice-centered transformation in the workplace. Previously, she was the Vice President of Program Innovation at PYXERA Global where she served on the Executive Leadership Team, led five country offices, drove the development of new business and programs, co-led the organization's work on inclusive circular cities, and advised corporate clients on their social impact strategies. Renay also led the organization’s ARC (Antiracist Collective) initiatives, which included internal and external efforts toward dismantling unjust systems. To this end, Renay created Rhetoric to Action, a series of conversations to bridge sectors toward collective action around social and racial justice.

Prior to PYXERA Global, Renay led the grassroots exchange and education grant portfolio at the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and has served in a variety of leadership roles in higher education, nonprofit, and business prior to that. Renay is an avid speaker and facilitator, has authored and edited numerous publications, including a resource journal, Student Affairs Professionals Cultivating Campus Climates Inclusive of International Students (Jossey Bass). Renay serves on the board of directors of nonprofits including Community Change, Harpswell Foundation, and Girl Rising.